Buffy is overcome with the flu and taken to the hospital. She is eager to get out due to a phobia of hospitals that stems from a childhood incident, but soon discovers that something is stalking the children's wing.

"Der Kindestod" literally means "the child's death" in German, but Giles is the only one to pronounce it with the correct accent. Cordelia is mistaken when she claims it means "child death."

The Kindestod resembles Freddy Krueger of the A Nightmare on Elm Street film series. Its behavior and Teutonic image is suggestive of der Erlkönig.

Episode Quotes

Xander: Man, Buffy! My whole life just flashed before my eyes! I got to get me a life.

Buffy: Maybe it wasn't Death. Maybe it was something else.Cordelia: So this isn't about you being afraid of hospitals 'cause your friend died and you wanna conjure up a monster that you can fight so you can save everybody and not feel so helpless?Giles: Cordelia, have you actually ever heard of tact?Cordelia: Tact is just not saying true stuff. I'll pass.

Cordelia: Eww. What does this do?Giles: What?Cordelia: What does this do?Giles: Uh, it, uh, extracts vital organs to replenish its own mutating cells.Cordelia: Wow! What does this one do?Giles: Um, it elongates its mouth to engulf its victims head with its incisors.Cordelia: Ouch. Wait, what does this one do?Giles: It asks endless questions of those with whom it's supposed to be working so that nothing is getting done.Cordelia: Boy, there's a demon for everything.

Episode Goofs

When Backer's dead body is thrown out of the hospital room, in two different shots, his entirely white hair is dark.

When Buffy and Willow first look in the empty children's room, the sign on the door to the basement room is absent.

When Buffy kills Kindestod, its hat falls off his head, laying just behind his head on the pipe, but it's then inexplicably absent in both of the subsequent shots.